Recap: Bulls 96, Cavs 81 (Or, this offense is a disaster)

Good lord, it’s getting hard to watch these Cavs play basketball. Before I proceed any further, I do want to say that Mike Brown taking what had been a bottom-five defense the last three seasons and turning it into a top-10 defense this year is a HUGE deal, and his focus was clearly on getting his defense installed before his offense, so there is some hope. But objectively, it is hard to watch this team play basketball.

Cavs-Related Bullets:

It’s time to say it: Kyrie is having a rough start to the season. His usage has only gone up a hair, but his TS% has gone down a full 10%, and he’s currently 21st among point guards in True Shooting. More disturbingly, it doesn’t look like he’s struggling with his shot that badly, it just looks like he’s trying to pilot an airplane made of refrigerators and stuffed deer tied together. There’s no space for him to work with, he’s not creating angles, and as he gets more frustrated, he’s looking for his own shot more and more aggressively, regardless of the percentage. Since Kyrie is capable of making any shot, it works more often than it should, but he needs to get back to being himself on offense, and soon. We can go chicken-and-egg with the offense struggling and Kyrie struggling all day long, but the bottom line is that the offense is going to struggle until Kyrie starts playing like an All-Star again.

Speaking of guards with no real plan on offense, it’s Dion Waiters! If there was a way to pare Waiters’ game down to his explosive dribble-drives and good, clean jumpers, we’d have one heck of a combo guard on our hands. Instead, Waiters dribbles around the court with blinders on, shoots off-balance midrange jumpers with too much time on the shot clock, and generally plays like a guy who watches a ton of Dwyane Wade and makes a mental note to only do the bad things. There’s a name for a “poor man’s Dwyane Wade.” That name is Randy Foye. This, too, must change.

Jarrett Jack gets described as “solid” so often that it seems odd to see him have a horrible game, but then you remember that “solid” is a euphemism for “not all that talented, as NBA guards go,” remember that the Bulls are really good defensively, and it makes sense.

Onto the good news! Andrew Bynum looked very solid offensively in his first start, and the move he put on Joakim Noah here was highlight-worthy. There’s nothing prettier to me than a great post move, and that one was a beauty. Bynum continues to look better and better, and you’d have to say that him and Thompson, who had another solid double-double on Monday, have been the two most pleasant surprises of the season thus far.

No Super C.J. for the Cavs tonight. I know I tend to be a glass half-empty kind of guy, but I don’t think C.J. Miles thought that C.J. Miles was going to stay top-20 in PER for much longer.

That’s pretty much it. Kudos to the defense, which is harder to see improve, but this offense is brutal. That’s essentially the long and the short of it. There’s no way the Cavaliers make the playoffs without picking it up offensively, and worse yet, the “okay, here’s a ball, and I think the basket is that way” offense is not going to be very enticing for free agents this summer. Until next time, campers.

The Dion who has kept the Cavs in both of the last 2 games? The Dion who is avg like 19 ppg and shooting mid 40’s the last 4 or 5 games? The Dion who is playing the best of any of any of guards so far?

The Dion who is shooting 5.6 15+ ft pullups per game and shooting 28.9% on them? He does average 6 drivers per game, to be fair. Then again, he’s barely averaging .5 points per drive and the team is averaging less than 1, which are both below average but not as egregious as they sound.

Dion needs to get better, but I will ask my favorite question to this blog’s audience: better compared to what?

He is a 21 year-old kid in his second year that has shown steady improvement on a macro level – 1) 39% shooting in the first-half last year that improved to 46% in the second half, 2) massively improved commitment to training in the offseason, 3) clear defensive improvement, etc., 4) willingness to be coached (see point 3)).

He is certainly not an elite guard right now, but I am not sure why anyone would expect him to be. He is a talented guard who is improving. That is what we have. If he shows real regression after 20-30 games, sound the alarms.

I generally agree that Kyrie is really struggling, and it is costing us wins. Hopefully, John, you are right that things will improve on offense as season progresses. The turnovers and lack of rhythm is shocking….

Couldn’t disagree with you more about Dion, last game, John. It’s pretty well documented that Dion struggles when he takes mid rangers in isolation, but when he takes them judiciously in the pick and roll, he shoots a much higher percentage. Additionally, he’s over 60% this year in catch and shoot. I actually thought that Dion’s shot selection was the best it’s been all season last night. I only counted two questionable shots: one was a heat check out of a quick pick and roll, and wasn’t abysmal, the other one was the one where he tried a jump to the left baseline for a fadeaway off a penetrating pick and roll from the top of the key. I believe the shot clock was in play on that one.

Dion’s shots at the basket and his three attempts were pretty good looks, and he forced much less than normal. I was shocked at the end when I saw 6 turnovers attributed to him. I don’t think all 6 of them were his fault, and I know Kyrie had more than 3. I blame some scorekeeper errors there. Dion was the main scorer and ballhandler when the Cavs made their run in the third, and was fighting for rebounds too (again, only two rebounds in the box score seemed really low). Thought he should have had the ball more in the fourth, to be honest, cause Kyrie was running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

Also, Miles and Jarrett Jack’s minutes should have been reversed. Miles is playing good defense (3 blocks and a steal), and 4-10 is not horrible. That three guard lineup is fine in spurts, but there’s not a big drop-off when you replace one of those guards for Miles. Would have liked to have seen Kyrie not play 41 minutes, and Miles play over 30. As Kevin noted, save the minutes for a more winnable game versus the Wolves.

Credit where credit is due: Nate, that is exactly how I saw Dion last night too. Was stunned at the scorekeeper’s “decisions.”

Also, kudos for you for pointing out that Kyrie basically froze out Dion in the 4th quarter. Again, Dion has been our best guard so far this early season, all-around and I don’t think it’s even that close. That’s why i tend to get really inpatient with the blogosphere making Dion the whipping boy every. freakin. time.

Dion is not our problem. Right now, our superstar is the problem. Also, I don’t think Andy is playing anywhere near the level he was last season pre-injury. I am fairly confident both will get much better…

Andy’s regression has been partly the improvement of TT. With Tristan getting more rebounds and more shots, it makes Andy look worse. Plus when you add in Bynum, Sims and maybe Bennett and Zeller, there’s a lot less opportunity. I think he’s been his defensive self, but less offensive/hustle opportunities have come his way.

First 15 minutes: Don’t know why I’m even watching this team.
Next two quarters: Dude, we’re playing as well as the Bulls.
Down the stretch: Don’t know why I’m even watching this team.

Dion is great. Can’t wait for the day when he and Kyrie are viewed like Chauncey Billups and Hamilton . . . Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. I don’t know why Kyrie is the only one that can shoot in the 4th quarter and freezes out Dion out for stretches. Dion should be Kyrie’s best friend.

We all said he would be inconsistent early in his career. He’s been just that . . . all the while displaying great talent and potential.

I think I will just make it my mission to repeat myself about the way our guards are working PnRs. It is driving me bat crazy, and I just don’t understand why all of them are consistently putting themselves into bad positions. To clarify again. When our guards accept the pick, once they get to the opposing big, they are crossing him over which then makes it impossible for our big to roll. That is why we are seeing so many Andy elbow jumpers. Andy knows how to find space, and the only space afforded to him is that elbow jumper. But by doing this, we are totally letting the defense off the hook. The opposing big WANTS our guard to cross him and block the roller. They are shading that direction. But that doesn’t mean our guards should. Force the 2 on 1 that the fricking PnR is designed for and make the roll man a threat. Our guards are so in love with the mid range J, that neither the big or our guards is EVER getting a paint touch out of it. What’s worse, is that our second big is never getting the open dunk after the second opposing big helps. We are not forcing the other team into a single rotation, and that is why we are awful.

Offensive fixes:

1. No more crossing the big on a PnR
2. No more horns play (when both our bigs set up at the elbow making the only decent pass the backdoor, but has generally led to a lot of standing around and touches at a safe place for the D.
3. Get some more side PnR going again so the kick to corner three is a pass to the weakside, thus either getting a good shot there or starting the ball whip around the horn.
4. Agree that CJ should swap minutes with Jack. Jack has fast hands and some decent positional anticipation, but is generally a non factor when he closes out to a wing player. CJ has been simply great.
5. set some more pin down post opportunities. We should be setting screens to get Tristan the ball on his left block.
6. Hope Kyrie remembers how to dribble the ball. Many of his TOs have been on misdribbles. It is strange from a guy with some of the best handles we have ever seen. Focus? Tired from his mild attempt to play Brown D? I dunno, but he is pretty bad right now.

It is ridiculously early, and as a defensive fan, I am thrilled with our progress. But I wouldn’t mind if our O started to resemble that February run last year with movement and offensive players consistently being in threatening positions.

We were down 81-76 at one point in the 4th qutr I believe, keeping pace, and then the game got away from us with some turnovers/hard bricks, and somebody kept leaving Mark Price I mean Mike Dunleavy open. I’m sure he missed at some point, but i didn’t see him miss a shot after halftime. We aren’t as bad as the score looked at the end. Hard to look at that score and feel good…but we were right with them until the middle of the 4th qutr.

Jusus Christ I have never seen someone salivate over a sub 40% shooter as much as you do KJ. Dion will amount to nothing more than a volume shooter like jr smith or Marcus Thornton at best. Quit defending his terrible shot selection. There’s no denying it really hurts the team

Him taking step back twos does hurt the team, but is far from the only thing hurting the team and yet its the only thing that shows up in every recap. Kyrie is shooting way worse than Dion right now and turning the ball over and playing worse D. He honestly is hurting the team more than Dion right now. I don’t expect that to be true for long, hopefully he finds his shot and stops forcing things, but so far through 8 games Dion has been a more effective two way player.

Dion’s 3’s, athleticism, and Defense have all vastly improved this year, you can’t go from middling rookie to all star in one year, give him time to improve, which he is showing he is doing outside of chucking long twos. It doesn’t come all at once.

They need offensive practice BIG TIME Mr. Mike Brown. They are scattered out there and you constantly moving the pieces just adds to the confusion. Bynum seems to be a double edge sword on starting. Yes He’s Big , Bad and Bossy But he’s also so damn SLOWWWW. Kyrie ‘s dribbling like a mad man waiting for Grandpa Bynum to get in position for plays . Well l that’s just the opponents more time for effective defense. You don’t really want to give that advantage to a very good defensive Bulls team. Just sayin.

I was at this game and I must say, this was the worst offensive game of basketball I have ever seen. Our dribbling was absolutely pathetic. I haven’t seen Kyrie play a worse game in my life. Dion’s jumper was falling in the 2nd/3rd quarters but his out of rhythm jumpers were brutal. Kyrie’s shot was a disaster, too.

Thompson looked athletic but still lacks the veteran moves (obviously) that could make him deadly. He was the most impressive of our 3 “key” pieces by far.

Rose absolutely gave Kyrie fits on defense. Rose was just quicker, and Kyrie looked disinterested the entire game. For whatever reason, he gave up the ball everytime he touched it in the first quarter. I almost wonder if Brown asked that he not try to take over early? I have no explanation for it.

Jack looked bad. His top-of-the-key jumpers weren’t landing and reminded me of Waiters. We settled for way too many terrible jump shots, and Waiters/Kyrie/Jack all refused to drive the basketball. I know Chicago has a good defense, but this game really showed just how awful our offense is.

I was a fan of the MB hire this offseason, but I assumed he would have brought someone with him to run the offense. This is absolutely inexcusable. No creativity, no rhythm, just bad, bad offensive basketball. Additionally, AV looks to be back to his pre-Scott days (just a high energy role player). He has now gone from really breaking out as a player post-MB, to returning to “meh” offensive, rebounding AV. This has to reflect on MB’s pathetic offense. We need a fix NOW.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

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